


I Could Write A Book

by edgy_fluffball



Series: Wrapped Up In Books Series [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Books Are Better Than Movies, Caleb Has A Podcast, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Mighty Nein as Family, Mollymauk Is Illiterate, Movie Night, Online Friendship, Pre-Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast, Pre-Relationship, Reading, Reluctant birthday celebrations, Sleepy Cuddles, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:54:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22778263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgy_fluffball/pseuds/edgy_fluffball
Summary: Caleb has his reasons not to celebrate his birthday. When he agrees to a movie night with his friends on the day, it is under the condition that there will be no presents.Except, there is one present that he is willing to accept...
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Pumat Sol, Fjord/Jester Lavorre, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Mollymauk Tealeaf & Caleb Widogast, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast
Series: Wrapped Up In Books Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613974
Comments: 16
Kudos: 119





	I Could Write A Book

‘Caleb, I need to borrow this book.’

‘Yes.’

‘I have been standing here, at this - your - counter for fifteen minutes, already.’

‘Yes.’

‘Out of those fifteen minutes, you have ignored me for fourteen and a half.’

‘Huh?’

He met Jester’s impatient glance and hurried to check out the book she had placed in front of him. It took a lot for Jester to grow impatient and he had apparently wasted more of her time than usual. Handing over the book on magically sustained wounds and how to make sure no long-lasting effects occurred in the patient, he tried to come up with a plausible excuse for his absentmindedness. A firm hrumph interrupted his thinking process. Jester still held out her pink backpack, waiting to store the book for later reading.

‘I’m sorry, Jester, I got distracted again.’

‘I noticed,’ Jester’s voice softened a little, ‘do you want to share what’s on your mind?’

Caleb shook his head. As well-meant as her question was, he preferred not to tell her that a single hint of a reddish coat in one corner and a bit of purple skin on a passing Veissux had prompted him to spiral a little, until he almost dissociated. Of course, he immediately saw that it was not who he wished to have seen but he had been a firm presence in his latest dreams and Caleb found it increasingly hard not to drift off in the middle of the day, imagining a possibility that allowed for Mollymauk to just appear at the library counter in front of him, giving him one of his crooked grins before starting to ask him an array of questions about his work and the books he had read since they last had spoken.

‘Caleb!’ Jester’s voice got him back into the moment, ‘It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. Are you still coming over to Fjord and my place later tonight?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Caleb scratched his neck, ‘depends on when Nott comes by to pick me up.’

‘Oh, she knows about tonight, though,’ Jester winked at him and put her backpack back on over her rain coat, ‘she seemed excited, I promised her candy and a small make-over.’

‘You know how to buy my best friend’s favour,’ Caleb shook his head with a soft smile, ‘we’ll be there, I guess.’

‘Wonderful,’ Jester blew him a kiss before skipping out of the door.

Caleb looked around and caught his colleague’s eye who seemed amused to see him flustered, ‘She’s a friend. A bit excitable but very sweet.’

‘I could tell,’ she piled the last returns into one of their carts, ‘do you want to take care of these?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Caleb pushed the cart towards the lift, ‘give me a sign, if Nott turns up.’

‘Your goblin friend? Will do,’ she was already back to busying herself with the orders and interlending.

Caleb made his way to the upper floors of the library and began to return books to their assigned places on the shelves, into the system and the order of labels, numbers and letters on narrow and wide spines that assured him they would be there for the next student - or him - to find when they were in need of them. It was part of why he loved his job at the library, he made sense of a pile of books, sorted through the mess and chaos some students left, and made sure nothing was out of place.

After re-shelving every book on the cart he took a few minutes to walk through the narrow aisles and rows of shelves and check whether anybody had made a mockery of their system. He knew that most students came to the library to conduct their revision, holing themselves up in one of the far corners of the library, near the Conjuration books where the shadows were deep enough to hide them from the passing eyes and the whisper of the books, filled to the brim with knowledge was the only sound audible to the concentrated ear. He also knew certain groups of students who appreciated the shadowy corners of the library for other reasons than studying. He hit pay dirt on the second floor, eventually, between books on recognising and dealing with fiends. Some joker had mixed the books up, shelving books on mythical magical weapons amongst tomes on demonic entities, turned books around and upside down to hide the titles and left a rather large pile of research scriptures on one of the desks that he untangled to find that they hailed from all sorts of departments of the library.

It did not took him notably longer than he had planned to return these scriptures to their rightful places, too, before he felt he could return to the front desk. His colleague was busy lecturing a few students, Caleb imagined they had been caught trying to sneak food into the inner sanctuary of the library. He could not count the times he had caught Jester with pastries in one of the basket the students could borrow to carry their belongings whilst working in the silence of the bookshelves, rather than their homes where distractions seemed inevitable.

He returned the cart to its spot behind their desks and began to wrap up for the day, checking his mailbox a last time and making sure he had worked through all the notices left in his space. Everything remaining were the books ordered on interlibrary loans. He would have to sort them into the self-service shelves before the library opened again in the morning.

‘Mr Widogast?’

He looked up from his workspace to see a student watching him with a shy smile. He remembered having seen her before, probably in one of his tutorials, the draconic scales on one side of her face were memorable enough to make her stand out in his mind.

‘Calianna. Do you have books to return or need help researching something?’

‘Thank you, Mr Widogast but no,’ she gave a little shrug, ‘Miss Nott is waiting outside, she said to tell you she forgot the lock and you are supposed to meet her at the bus stop. She can’t park.’

Caleb blinked at her, struggling to understand what she meant, for a moment, ‘Thank you, Calianna. That was everything, yes?’

She had already moved on further into the reading room. Caleb grabbed his bag from under the counter and waited for his colleague to finish dealing with the group of students who still pretended not to see the _Meal Hearth Bakery_ bag sticking out of one of their baskets. He pushed past them, plucked it out and placed it on the counter, not willing to make Nott wait because a few wise guys decided to break library rulse.

‘You can go in now, the food stays here. You can collect it again when you leave,’ he said quietly before turning to his colleague, ‘I’m going to clock out, see you in the morning.’

He left, leaving his colleague to store the pastries away. They had smelled tempting and had still been warm when he lifted them out of the basket. Caleb stepped out of the library building and slung his backpack over his shoulder and fell into a trot to meet Nott at the bus stop.

Her brightly coloured motor scooter stood out against the dusty street. She grinned at him as he approached had held the spare helmet out for him to put on. Caleb sighed and fastened the straps of his backpack around his shoulders.

‘I don’t get a say in this, am I right?’

‘Always so quick to come to an insight,’ Nott started the engine, waiting for him to awkwardly climb on behind him and put his arms around her, ‘it’s one evening with your friends. What exactly is so bad about that?’

‘I have to finish the script for my next episode,’ Caleb muttered, ‘I haven’t read anything worthy of one hour of my time in ages.’

‘You should get more guests to join you every once in a while, get a fresh perspective on things,’ with that, Nott pulled out of the bus bay, cutting off any protest Caleb could have voiced, and a car that had prepared to overtake them.

She drove at breakneck speed at the best of times but as they weaved through the evening traffic, it only seemed to get worse with every manoeuvre she successfully pulled off. Caleb held onto her for dear life, fingers digging into her clothes and certainly her skin, as well. Nott never complained about the tight grip he kept on her whenever she gave him a ride anywhere.

They stopped in front of the beautiful town house Jester and Fjord’s flat was in. They had rented it when they first moved in their own space together, a few weeks after making their relationship official. Jester had been looking to move out of her dorm room since her new roommate had begun to eat her food and left stuff everywhere and Fjord had been unable to afford his flat on his own, after Caduceus had moved out and into his boyfriend’s house. Jester and Fjord had found the flat and moved in immediately, despite Yasha’s careful warnings about hasted relationships and premature intimacy.

Caleb was confident enough in his friends that he believed their feelings for each other were true and would not rip apart their group.

Nott parked the motor scooter, sighing and cursing about the lack of a lock. Caleb patted her head and went to ring the doorbell.

‘You have reached the Mansion of Fun, how can we help you?’

‘Ah, Jester, can we store the scooter in the hallway?’

‘Sure, I can buzz you in,’ Jester replied and a moment later, Caleb could open the door for Nott who had watched and pushed her scooter into the house.

He let the door fall shut and made his way up the stairs, hearing Nott clamour behind him as she tried to force the scooter into a corner. A door opened above them and Jester’s voice rang out to them, echoing a little between the walls.

‘Are you on your way up? Caduceus won’t start brewing the tea before you’re here and it already smells so good! Can you hurry up already?’

‘We’re coming, Jester,’ Nott answered and dashed past Caleb, ‘have you got all the things I asked you for?’

‘Sure, come in, come in, there’s a seat next to Fjord,’ Jester came into view, her smile blinding as Caleb stepped onto the landing.

She hugged him, arms coming around his shoulders to squeeze him tight before stepping back for a moment. Her eyes darted over his outfit, only seeming to shed the tiniest judgemental look when she took in the dust on his coat.

‘That’s a result of Nott’s driving style, not my fault,’ he explained.

‘Do you want to go next door and wash up before coming in and sitting down?’

He threw her a venomous look but took off the coat and hung it on the rack in the hallway, toed off his boots to leave them next to Nott’s shoes, and stepped through into the living room. Every time they visited, there seemed to be more trinkets and random decorative items that were piled onto surfaces and into shelves. Looking around he could spot most of the people who usually came to these evenings, Nott had managed to already hassle Beau for the bowl of snacks she held in her lap whilst Fjord tried to keep out of their way. Yasha sat in an armchair, legs slung over the armrest, phone in her hand. She looked up as Caleb stepped into the room and gave him a fracture of a smile before returning to whatever she did on her phone. Next to her was an empty chair but he could hear voices from the kitchen and slowed down a moment, not sure whether he should say Hello there.

‘Go on, sit down,’ Jester gave him a friendly shove in the shoulder, ‘we have a surprise for you.’

‘Why?’ Caleb let himself be pushed towards the sofa and flopped down next to Beau, carefully prying the bowl out of Nott’s hands and placing it back with Beau.

‘Can’t we just surprise you?’ Jester sat down on Fjord’s other side, still smiling brightly, ‘It’s what friends do!’

‘Jester - if this is about next week, I will walk out of this room right now. I am not bluffing, I will leave and not come out until everything has passed,’ Caleb furrowed his brows and scooted into the corner, slipping his feet halfway under the sofa, ready to dart off.

‘I’m sorry, Caleb,’ Caduceus poked his head out of the kitchen, ‘she truly is a force to be reckoned with. Would it reassure you, if I told you that it is not at all about the day you don’t like to be reminded of?’

‘It would, if you were the one to reassure me,’ Caleb said carefully.

‘Well, it is not about that,’ Caduceus set down a large tea pot on the table between them, making sure not to spill anything onto the table runner Jester had probably picked with something in mind as it fit the colour scheme of the decorations around the room perfectly, ‘would you like some tea and biscuits, then? It’s a very special blend.’

‘Thank you,’ Caleb took the offered cup of tea and smelled it.

A mixture of scents filled his nose, amongst the ones he could identify were cinnamon and jasmine, accompanied by something warm and comforting that made him inhale even deeper until he could taste the scent on his tongue. He opened his eyes, not having realised he had closed them and looked up at Caduceus who, despite bending down to pour tea, loomed over him with a curious, inquisitive look, smile spreading over his face.

‘Do you like it?’

‘I haven’t even tasted it but the scent alone is wonderful,’ Caleb sipped on the tea and let out a groan as warmth and comfort seemed to seep into his bones, making him unaware or at least uncaring of his surroundings for a moment, ‘uhm, that’s better than anything I could have imagined.’

‘Sounds amazing, can I also have some?’ Jester stuck her cup out and Caduceus filled it to the brim.

Jester pulled it back, blew on the tea a little and took a first sip. She closed her eyes for a moment, smacked her lips together and hummed quietly to herself. When she blinked her eyes open again, the beaming smile was back on her lips.

‘That tastes amazing, you were right, Caleb! All the freshest fruit in a compote, and pastries! How did you manage to keep the bitterness out?’ She looked up at Caduceus with big eyes, ‘It’s like a complete afternoon tea in my mouth!’

‘Fruit?’ Caleb heard himself say, ‘That does not taste like fruit, do you need to get your tongue checked?’

‘What? No, I can even tell you which fruits and what kinds of pastries are in there,’ Jester seemed ready to throw hands, her eyebrows had moved closer together and she seized him up with a look that meant nothing good for him.

‘Before you start to kill each other,’ a soft spoken voice came closer, out of the kitchen and into the living room, ‘let’s just review the results on this. Do you mind, Mr Clay?’

With a fond smile over his shoulder, Caduceus turned around to his boyfriend who carried a plate with different sorts of baked goods into the living room and smiled from ear to ear. Caleb cleared his throat and smelled his tea cup again before taking another careful gulp. Both Caduceus and Pumat looked at him expectantly.

‘It’s still the best tea I have ever had, what’s the secret? You did something to it, didn’t you?’

Pumat sat down in the previously empty armchair, pulling Caduceus along who sat down as well, long limbs dangling onto the ground, ‘Well, Mr Widogast, it’s a simple enchantment, really. My dear Caduceus proposed a joined business venture we could embark in together and we got to work. It is a tea that will always taste like what you most desire. If you drink this when you crave something as sweet as Miss Lavorre, here, it will taste like - for her at least - fruit compote and pastries. I am rather proud of the enchantment, actually, it blends with all the components, in a similar way as the tea ingredients do.’

‘That’s amazing,’ Caleb leaned back a little, feeling the tea and its warmth settle deep in his bones, ‘it’s a good concept.’

‘Out of curiosity,’ Beau leaned forward, ‘what happens when someone doesn’t want something particular or can’t decide?’

‘Oh,’ Pumat seemed to shine with the genius of the joined effort he had achieved with his boyfriend who now lifted his teacup, smelled it with a delicious smile and toasted it in his direction, ‘that’s the beauty of it. Everybody has something they subconsciously wish to have, maybe even someone. A scent gives pointers in many directions.’

‘Oh wow, that sounds amazing,’ Jester handed her cup to Fjord, ‘what does it smell like for you?’

‘Hot cocoa, apparently,’ Fjord smiled at her, ‘and a hint of candyfloss with candied apples.’

‘Aren’t you the sweetest,’ Jester leaned into his space and kissed him before returning her attention to Caleb, ‘what did it taste like for you?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said quietly, still holding on to the cup that made his palms tingle with heat and comfort, the scent still present in his nose.

‘Smell it again,’ Nott sat up as well, watching him out of attentive eyes, ‘at this point, we all want to know what is smells like for you, and if you don’t smell it, we will wake you up in the middle of the night to ask you again.’

‘You don’t have to answer,’ Yasha chipped in from her seat in the far corner, phone lowered, ‘don’t let them peer pressure you into anything, if you don’t want to.’

Caleb met her eyes and nodded softly in her direction, ‘It’s okay. I smell jasmine and cinnamon.’

‘That is not what I expected,’ Beau blurted out, ‘way too sweet and flowery. I would have thought you would get a scent more fitting the whole booklover-aesthetic.’

‘What would be a more fitting smell for me, then?’ Caleb looked up, noticed the way Jester grinned at him and sighed, ‘Wait, don’t answer that. I’d only regret having asked.’

He took another sip of the tea that filled an empty space in his mind without him having to think about it. Pumat still smiled at him in that knowing, slightly unsettling way that seemed to want to tell them something about them but was never quite comprehensible. Caleb decided to accept it and go with it.

‘Jasmine and cinnamon,’ Yasha’s calm voice repeated, ‘that is a wonderful combination. How does it feel to you?’

‘Very nice,’ Caleb nodded, ‘you should have a cup, too. Is this what we do today, test teas and enchantments?’

‘One of the things we’re doing,’ Jester nibbled on a biscuit, ‘listen, Caleb, we wanted to invite you and Nott to a movie night. We could cook and have dinner here, sit together and watch that movie Fjord said you would really like.’

‘It’s based on the one book you bought in that new shop in the Tri-Spire,’ Fjord frowned for a moment, ‘one of them, at least, if I remember corretly.’

Caleb wanted to grin and ask more questions but the smirk on Beau’s face was a give-away for something more sinister going on, ‘Jester, what exactly did you plan? And when were you thinking of doing this movie night?’

‘It’s not going to be something big, you know? Just friends coming together, having dinner, very much not celebrating their friend’s birthday,’ she pushed her lower lip out and made puppy dog eyes at him, ‘come on, Caleb, you could spend that evening with your friends, just once. There’ll be no presents, no congratulations, no singing.’

Nott climbed back onto the sofa, ‘To be honest, it would be the same things we usually do, just not by ourselves. It could be worth the trouble this once. Also, I think Caduceus would cook and that’s nicer than any take out we could order.’

‘Even from the place that made goblin cuisine delicacies?’ Caleb allowed her to hide under his arm.

‘As if we would ever order there. It would make the day really special and we eat with the others often enough to just do it, don’t we? It wouldn’t be anything special.’

Caleb could not shake the feeling this assault on his own traditions for the day he tried his best to ignore had been agreed upon and discussed before. He noticed all his friends had gathered closer, watching him, Nott and Jester trade looks. Fjord and Caduceus showed honest encouragement in going forth and breaking traditions a little. Pumat was busy watching him take another gulp of tea. Beau seemed too busy relishing in his struggle to pay any attention to him looking around and Yasha kept her eyes trained on him.

Their gazes met and she smiled softly, almost smirked as she mouthed, ‘Jasmine and cinnamon.’

Caleb sighed and felt the resistance bleed out of him, ‘Fine. We’ll come over for dinner and a movie. Nott, you owe me.’

‘Oh Caleb,’ Jester beamed at him, ‘only you could make spending an evening with your best friends sound like the most painful, soul-devouring sacrifice possible.’

‘Ja, just don’t make me regret it,’ Caleb shrugged but gave a little smile, ‘you think it’s going to be a good movie, Fjord? In my experience, movies based on good books rarely deliver.’

‘I suppose we can check next week,’ Fjord shook his head but grinned at him, ‘maybe, you could make a list and compare after we finish the movie next week.’

‘Sounds like a good idea, actually,’ Beau joined them, ‘as for tonight, Jester and I found this great board game that we have to try. You go on adventures as a group and solve mysteries.’

‘Mysteries?’ Nott perked up and dashed across the room to take the box out of her hands, ‘Jester, we’re a team. We’re going to smoke them!’

There were several reasons for Caleb to completely ignore his birthday. The one thing they all had in common was his unwillingness and dislike for the attention being on him for something he felt deeply uncomfortable with in the first place. In his opinion, he had nothing to do with his birthday and did not deserve the fuss Jester tended to kick up about it. When they all had first met and turned work relationships into friendship over time, Jester had thrown birthday parties for all of them, Beau first, then Fjord and Nott, Caduceus got a belated party after she discovered he had been on holiday over his actual birthday and Yasha had found herself in an awkward split between spending time with Molly and attending the surprise party Jester had arranged for her. Unforgotten to all of them was Jester’s own birthday party that had not ended until halfway through the next day.

It had been on the fourth anniversary of their first ever group meeting that Jester had noticed she had not organised a single party for Caleb throughout the years they had known each other. Despite his warnings and threats, Nott had told her the date of his birthday and Jester had been shocked to realise just how many of his birthdays she had not celebrated. His attempts to avoid her on the day had only grown since then.

He did not celebrate the day himself, and the notion that his friends insisted on making it something special as all he wanted to do was to treat it as just another day, work through it and return home to Nott and her attempts at putting some food on the table. She surely meant well but Caleb still preferred the ordered take-out.

He was not sure whether he trusted Jeter to only put on a movie and allow Caduceus to cook for them. All day, as he still sat behind the counter of the library and clicked through one order after the other, filled in forms and re-shelved books, he had been jumpy. A book dropped onto a table as a student let out a groan of frustration and crumpled over the notes they had made, and Caleb had all but screamed. He stopped himself in time when a cough rang through the building but he felt sweat break out on his forehead, anyway. A few minutes later, a student walked up to him, set down a stack of books in front of him and let out a deep sigh.

Caleb checked the books out and scanned them into the system before pushing them across the counter. The student began to sort them into her bag, watching him as he stepped back and let her have the moment to pack everything up. Her eyes darted over his nametag.

‘Widogast, yeah? Like the bloke with the podcast Master Ikithon keeps complaining about? Must be a right prick, if you only listen to what he says.’

‘Ikithon?’ Caleb parroted involuntarily, ‘Didn’t know he paid attention to media outlets.’

‘Oh, he makes very clear that he’s not okay with it all,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘crusty old pompous ass. I listen to podcasts a lot, and that Widogast person gives better insight and clearer summaries than any internet site could do. I don’t know just how many of my fellow students in the Wildemount Literature course prepare for the Ikithon exams with that podcast. It’s just so much easier to write papers and essays when you can listen to an explanation of the plot that makes more sense than ten dusty professors with their degrees. Ikithon can stuff his backhanded compliments, we’ll continue listening to _The Reading Nook_. So yeah, that Widogast is a genius.’

She scooped her books up and left with a small smile in his direction. Caleb copied the motion until she was out of sight. He returned to his work but the small smile in the corner of his mouth stayed there for the rest of his shift.

Nott insisted on him taking a shower after coming home. She waited for him at the door and forced him into the bathroom immediately, he heard the door lock behind him and turned around.

‘Shower, now! I am not taking you to Jester and Fjord’s smelling of dust and old books,’ Nott yelled from the other side of the door, ‘you can put a little effort into this!’

‘You’re one to talk,’ Caleb replied at a similar volume, ‘when was the last time you showered?’

‘Half an hour ago because Jester called and yelled at me. Try again. Also, I’ve turned the heating off in the bathroom so you better had a shower, if you want to stay warm. I’ll listen to the water starting and stopping so don’t even think about trying to trick me.’

Caleb rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at the closed door. Still, he undressed and stepped under the warm spray of the shower, if only to calm his nerves which began to flare up the closer he knew they got to leaving for whatever the evening had in store. There was a new shampoo in the little bowl they kept the various bottles and products in. He opened and smelled it. The scent of cedar wood and bergamot filled his nose, made his insides tingle and seemed to spill into his awareness.

He left the shower feeling refreshed and as ready as possible to take on the evening, ‘Nott, I’m done, let me out so I can get dressed?’

‘There are clothes in the bathroom,’ his best friend answered, ‘put them on, don’t complain.’

At first, he thought she had put out the clothes he had worn only one time, trousers too tight, shirt wide enough to slip off his shoulders. Then, he realised the trousers were new, so was the shirt and the coat hanging over the shelf. They fit but he could not shake the thoughts swirling around in his head as he put them on.

‘Nott, these are –‘

‘Exactly what you need tonight. They are not a gift, don’t get your knickers in a twist, I used your card.’

Caleb barked out a raspy laugh, ‘Thank you, Nott. Thank you. Anything else I should do before we set off?’

Nott motioned for him to sit down in the living room, ‘I’ll do your hair. Sit still, don’t complain and let me work.’

‘I don’t have a chance, right?’ Caleb grinned thinly and moved further into the room, ‘Go ahead, then, do your worst.’

Nott stepped closer to him, comb twirling in her fingers. She got to work on his hair that he had started to grow out for a sponsored charity event the library had begun to run. So far, his hair was long enough to tie it in the back of his neck. Caleb did not pretend to know what to do with his hair but letting Nott take care of him was not something he had thought of, so far.

‘Since when do you know how to do hair?’ He tried to feel what she did to his head, ‘Didn’t seem like something you do a lot.’

‘I watched some videos and asked a few people.’

‘Jester?’

‘Nope, she would have insisted on bows and flowers or something. I asked Yasha.’

‘Oh,’ Caleb nodded carefully, ‘yes, she would know.’

Nott’s nimble fingers made quick work with his hair, tying it into braids and gathering the braids into a ponytail. The strands at his temples were looser than the ones fixed in the braids, he could feel them fall to frame his face.

‘Yeah, I can take you looking like that,’ Nott stepped back with a satisfied grin, ‘do you feel ready for an evening with your friends?’

They had asked Yasha to pick them up on her way over since Nott had planned on drinking with Beau and Caleb did not trust himself with her motor roller. By the time Yasha pulled up in front of their house, Nott had gotten him to admit she had managed to get him a fitting outfit for the evening and made him almost look forward to seeing all his friends in one room again. Yasha seemed to agree when he climbed into her book, giving Nott an impressed look and nodding towards him, her own hair twisted into braids and pinned on her head.

She drove a lot better than Nott did, still at breakneck speed but somehow, he felt a lot safer with her behind the wheel. Caleb sat in the passenger seat whilst Nott sprawled in the back, diving into a bag of left-over crisps Beau had tossed there during a previous trip. They all agreed that Beau was no longer allowed to eat in any of the cars but again and again, she managed to smuggle food into one vehicle after another and left it there after the drive was finished.

When she pulled up to the townhouse, Nott ran up to the door immediately, ringing the bell and shouting up the façade. Yasha and Caleb followed her as she pushed the door open and darted off.

‘You know,’ he sighed and tugged his coat shut tighter, ‘her behaviour is even worse than usual. Really convinces me that I’m not in for a surprise tonight. Do you know whether Jester’s got anything weird planned for tonight? Any drinking games, funny food or –‘

‘You should be fine,’ Yasha rested a heavy hand on his shoulder, ‘you worry so much, Caleb. I know I’d be a hypocrite to point out just how much but tonight, there is no reason to worry. Really, Caleb, Jester means well and wants you to have a good evening. Just relax, go in there and tell her that she is a great host.’

‘Will do,’ he choked out, ‘thank you, Yasha.’

The door stood open when they reached the landing, Nott having already disappeared inside before they reached it. Caleb left his boots in the hallway, this time, Jester was not there to welcome them but her voice was audible from the living room where she barked out commands. The smell of warm, spicy food filled the air out into the hallway, accompanied by Caduceus’ calm, deep voice mixing with Jester’s. Yasha smiled and rolled her eyes, slipping past him to join their friends.

‘Courage,’ she mouthed at him as she rounded the corner.

Caleb followed her a few seconds later, having needed a moment to calm his nerves and take a deep breath. He buried his hands in his pockets and made his way into the living room as well. Nott beamed at him from the sofa, already perched next to Beau with a bowl of crisps in her lap and Beau trying to reach it. Her yellow eyes were big as tennis balls and her mouth stuffed to the brim. Jester and Fjord were busy laying the table together, getting into each other’s way as they carried plates and glasses from one room into the other. Fjord looked back over his shoulder, spotted Caleb and grinned at him, an apology in his eyes.

‘Make yourself comfortable, please,’ he said sheepishly, carrying a stack of napkins over to the table, ‘Cad and Pumat are still working on the food, we’ll have to push the movie watching back by a bit.’

‘Fine by me,’ Caleb pulled the bottle of wine he had brought out of his pocket, ‘where should I put this?’

‘That’s going nowhere,’ Beau exclaimed, climbed over the sofa and grabbed the bottle from him, ‘sit down, Caleb, you’re being awkward. It’s no fun with you standing in the middle of the room like that, we could just move Nott to the side and give you some space.’

Nott hissed at her in response but scooted along the sofa a little, opening up the space for Caleb to sit down between her and Beau. He squeezed in and was offered the bowl of crisps.

‘Ah, no thank you, I’d rather have real food,’ Caleb sighed, ‘do we - do we help in any way?’

‘Nope, you just sit and watch Fjord almost drop everything,’ Beau grinned as Fjord walked past with a big, steaming pot, ‘doing well there?’

‘You know you could help, actually,’ Fjord grunted and set the pot down on the table, ‘there are so many more things to be carried over here.’

‘No chance,’ Beau shook her head.

One moment later, Yasha walked past with some drinks and Beau darted off the couch into the kitchen. Fjord followed her, rolling his eyes and sighing dramatically. Caleb shuffled off the couch, feeling impolite to just sit there whilst everybody was busy around him.

‘Help, Jester,’ Nott screeched next to him, ‘he’s trying to get up and help!’

A second later, Jester appeared in the door frame, wielding a wooden spoon and with her free hand pointing at him, ‘Caleb Widogast, you sit down right now! If I see you getting up again anytime soon, I promise you, heads will roll!’

Caleb sat back down without another word of protest. In response to Jester, he could hear some giggling from the kitchen, probably Caduceus and Pumat laughing at her antics.

‘That wasn’t a good idea,’ Nott said with a head shake, ‘you really should know better by now than to poke the bear.’

‘Oi,’ Jester reappeared in the doorway, ‘did I just hear you call me a bear?’

‘Nope, would never occur to me,’ Nott disappeared from the sofa, ‘sorry, Caleb, got to go powder my nose. You’ll be okay, yes?’

Then, she disappeared from his side and left him to sit on the couch, by himself and still trying to figure out what was going on around him, ‘I’m not sure what I should be doing, I thought we were going to watch a movie.’

‘Oh, we will,’ Beau grinned at him, ‘just sit back, this is all very normal.’

‘And I totally believe you,’ Caleb sighed and rubbed his temples, ‘honestly, guys, what is going on?’

‘Aw, I think he’s getting impatient,’ Nott shouted from somewhere behind him, ‘should we give him his present now?’

Caleb jumped up, ready to run and grab his coat the second he heard her, ‘What did I tell you, I said I didn’t want - this is precisely why we stay in, Nott!’

He tried to spot any of his friends to give them a stern look but no one poked their head out of the kitchen. Instead, he heard a warm chuckle coming from behind him.

‘What a shame, you’re telling me I got all dressed up for nothing?’

‘Molly? What are you doing in Fjord and Jester’s bedroom?’ Caleb turned around to where the familiar voice had come from, only to see Nott standing there, leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. There was a smug grin on her lips, telling him how proud she was of what they had pulled off.

And behind her, Molly showed the sweetest, innocent smile that made Caleb lose his breath and stare at him, unable to comprehend what he saw. He felt his pulse quicken, heard it hammering in his ears and shoved his fists into his pockets to hide the way his hands shook all of a sudden. Caleb did not need to turn around to know that the rest of his friends all piled into the kitchen door, watching what happened between them.

‘Honestly, Caleb, just say the word and I’ll go back in there and you can have your boring meal and movie with the rest of the lot but I will text you the entire time, I promise,’ Molly grinned at him and shook his hair out over his shoulders.

He had glittering stones woven into his hair that caught the light from the overhead lamp when he moved, cocking his head, waiting for him to make a move. Caleb stuttered, tripped over his words, barely making noise at all, still staring.

‘I think we broke him,’ Yasha said behind him, ‘should we, should we do something? Say something? He’s just standing there.’

‘Yeah, I could give him a shove,’ Beau proposed with an audible smirk.

‘Or we could just wait,’ Fjord suggested in a hushed tone.

Caleb pinched himself through the cloth of his trousers. He could feel his mind racing as he still tried to commit the image of Molly to his memory, the way he stood before him, sparkling like a diamond in the sun. No hair, no laughter line, no loose thread on his shirt could be overlooked as he desperately tried to memorise him, as if threatened to lose the memory a moment later due to circumstances more dire and threatening than they could have been at an evening with his friends.

‘You said you had a show tonight,’ he accused, recalling the message Molly had sent him a few days before, ‘I told you we were going to be together for the night and you said you had a show.’

‘And wouldn’t you agree that it’s a great one. Best acting I’ve ever done,’ Molly twirled on the spot, showing off the way rhinestones were sewn into his clothes, a low-cut shirt and wide trousers, colourful and sparkly all over, a blazer hanging off his shoulders like a cape.

There was a flashy red ribbon tied into a bow on one of his horns and a tag dangling from the other. Caleb could just about make out his name written on it.

‘Did you really come here - you absolute idiot,’ Caleb hauled himself over the couch before he could think of a reason why he should not, he jumped off the back rest, ignoring Jester’s indignant outcry about feet on the sofa, and launched himself into Molly’s arms, ‘you are the only present I am willing to accept tonight!’

Molly laughed, closed his arms around him and lifted him off the ground, laughing into his ear as he spun around as if he weighed nothing, and compared to the rest of their group that was well and true. He still held onto Molly’s shoulders after he had set him back down, head buried in the crook of his neck, breathing in and feeling relaxation wash over him as the familiar scent of jasmine, cedar and cinnamon filled his nose. It was a warm and homely scent, accompanied with the feeling of warm skin under his hands and against his cheek. The temptation to still and remain in his arms was overwhelming, even, as Molly moved again.

‘I am proud to be your present, love,’ he whispered in his ear, ‘silly boy, don’t you trust your friends to know you well enough to find the perfect gift for you, even when you don’t like to celebrate your birthday?’

‘To be honest, it was between Molly and a monthly book subscription,’ Jester said behind them.

Caleb turned around, Molly’s arms still around his shoulders, grin plastered on his lips, ‘You should have gone with the books, then. Look at the state of my present, all untidily wrapped and crumpled.’

‘Naughty,’ Molly swatted at him with a hand, ‘better this way than to present myself unwrapped already, wouldn’t you agree?’

Yasha rolled her eyes and sat down, ‘You are the peacock you carry around under your skin.’

‘You are a cock,’ Beau specified, ‘and as such, the only one I will ever touch.’

With that, she punched him in the arm. Molly mouthed an ‘ow’ into Caleb’s shoulder but he felt the smile press into his skin.

‘More importantly now,’ Caduceus interrupted them all, ‘the food is done and I believe we have a movie to watch.’

‘Come on,’ Molly pulled him back to the sofa, ‘I called dibs on sitting with you.’

‘No one protested?’

‘Oh, just Nott,’ Molly winked at her.

Caleb could see the way his best friend snarled but she seemed okay with sitting next to them as Molly sat down and pulled him into his lap. He kept his arms wrapped around him, making it impossible for him to move, even if he had wanted to. As it was, Caleb did not feel willing to break the contact.

Caduceus, Pumat and Fjord carried the last pots into the living room as everybody sat down around the coffee table. Jester busied herself with the television and all its appliances to get the movie started.

‘You were right,’ Caleb smiled at Fjord when the screen lit up, ‘the title is definitely one I know. _Gamble of War_ , ja. The book was good, as far as I remember, a tragic historical fiction.’

‘Let’s see whether the movie can keep up with the expectations,’ Molly nuzzled his neck, ‘oh no, there’s expositional writing.’

Caleb leaned back against his chest and began to read out loud as letters flickered over the screen, accompanied by the inset of some mellow soundtrack, ‘ _The war between feuding parties in the mythical country of Cavern Dahel has threatened to tear apart families, friends and society itself for decades. It has grown as a cancer, a once bright revolution snuffed out in bloodshed and terror. Between enemy lines, there is no room for the feelings of a single person. However, the arrival of an unexpected guest under a bloody star falling from the sky seems to make a difference, at last…_ ’

Molly hummed his appreciation, burring something about Caleb being a good friend. There was something else about listening to Caleb’s reading but he was already engulfed in the developing plot already, paying little mind to what Molly mouthed into the cloth of his shirt.

The movie picked up speed, they filled and emptied plates, positions around the television changed and Caleb and Molly remained in their seat, wrapped up around each other, discussing quietly. There was little the others understood, too much of it was hushed and whispered.

‘What are you whispering about?’ Jester sat down next to them, pulling her feet up onto the sofa, despite her own protests earlier, ‘It’s very secretive and I want to know what keeps you from sharing with everyone, we’re watching a movie here.’

‘Actually,’ Molly stuck his tongue out at him, ‘Caleb has been telling me about all the ways the movie is a lot different from the book. Not that I would know, of course.’

‘It is?’ Fjord asked and leaned forward, ‘I had no idea, is it not good?’

‘No,’ Caleb sank back into Molly’s embrace, ‘it’s really good, actually. I don’t think it’s bad, just different.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Molly grinned, ‘you definitely have a stronger opinion about it than that.’

‘Well, at the moment, it looks like they are going to change the ending. Now, where is the sense in that? There was an intention behind the plot, it all built up to this epic finale and at the moment,’ Caleb motioned towards the TV screen, ‘it looks rather far from that.’

He found the bow still attached to Molly’s horn and began to tug on it, play with it until he held it in his hand. Molly reacted in nothing more than a chuckle, weaving his fingers into Caleb’s hair.

‘You could have told me you wanted to start unwrapping your present,’ he whispered into his ear, ‘we could have found a more private corner. And I would have put on a little more of a show - and the good intimates. I recently picked up a nice, lacy piece of -’

‘Stop teasing, watch the movie,’ Caleb nudged his head a little, ‘watch the movie so that you get a rough idea of what goes on there.’

‘You could just read me the book,’ Molly shrugged, ‘saves me time and gives me an opportunity to watch and hear you. I couldn’t think of anything better.’

Caleb felt his cheeks heat up. He returned his attention to the TV without commenting on Molly’s words, at least for a few minutes, before his mind wandered off. They had talked so much more since the last visit to Trostenwald, discussed their daily lives in all details that happened, recalled the funny moments and the ones that made them groan in annoyance. Molly told him more about his shows and the plans he had for his routines, and also about the struggle it posed for him to keep doing it. He told him about the men and women who tried to sneak into his dressing room after a show, the greedy hands he could still feel hours after he finished singing. The disgust that lingered behind his words had hurt Caleb when he first told him, just as much as it hurt to know that Molly did something he loved, something Caleb could not compare to. He knew what it was that tore him apart and what it was that kept him going.

Molly’s warmth towards him, despite all the differences in their lifestyles, reminded him that their friendship still counted and was a special one, too. What had begun with critical exchange about his literary podcast had developed so far and come to a point where he felt comfortable with Molly on a level no one else could reach with even Nott coming short - in quite the literal sense. Sometimes, Caleb needed nothing more than to be held and reminded that somebody was strong enough to envelop him entirely. He knew it helped Molly, too, he had told him before what it meant to him to be able to hold someone in his arms. It mattered to both of them and as such, it was truer than what Caleb sometimes wished for in the small hours of the night when he felt his bones grow heavy in the loneliness of his bedroom.

‘Hey,’ a finger prodded him in the side, ‘you have gone awfully quiet. Everything alright?’

Caleb smiled up at Molly, gathering himself enough to return his attention to the room full of his friends, all set on having a wonderful evening. Jester threw popcorn at the TV screen as the heroes seemed to have come to the misunderstanding Caleb remembered vividly having read about. It had kept him on his toes in the book, the movie, however, played it as a shallow argument.

‘That’s just not right,’ he said, ‘it’s meant to be so much more than a lover’s spat, it lacks all the passion and meaning. If they make it into a movie, why not keep those few lines that would have made all the difference? It wouldn’t have added another minute to the whole thing but as it is, it doesn’t make sense, there is not enough motivation for - oh, and now they have them roll in the mud rather than part ways amicably to set up the second part? That’s just pitiful.’

‘Calm down,’ Molly scratched his head a little, fingers rubbing circles into his scalp, ‘I probably wouldn’t have found out about all these differences, if you hadn’t pointed them out.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Caleb sighed, ‘I got carried away.’

‘It’s nothing to apologise for, you are passionate about your books and what they say, that’s why you have the podcast; to talk about books and their meanings,’ Molly’s hands wandered up and down his sides as he spoke, ‘we all know that adaptations make changes but if we don’t know the book, we won’t know what exactly got changed. There are some stories that seem to miss something but no one questions it.’

‘I think that’s the most philosophical I have heard Molly say,’ Beau grinned and grabbed a handful of popcorn to shove in her mouth, ‘you could have him on that podcast of yours with an attitude like that.’

‘That seems like a good idea, almost like you’re expanding your offer,’ Pumat agreed, one arm wrapped around Caduceus’ shoulders, balancing a cup of tea in the other hand.

‘We could,’ Caleb agreed, ‘if you’re here for a couple of days more and felt up to it?’

‘That I am,’ Molly grinned and the sparkle in his eyes made Caleb question what he had agreed to, ‘don’t worry, I will be on my best behaviour.’

‘Now, that really is a cause for alarm,’ Fjord sighed, one eye brow raised, ‘well, good luck, Caleb!’

‘It’s going to be a challenge,’ Caleb grinned at Molly’s outrage, all open mouth and indignant noises as he fumbled for words, ‘but I’ll make it work.’

Molly’s protest died down under the careful little pats Caleb placed on his arms, he settled into the sofa without grumbling too much and endured it. Nott joined in the patting a moment later and soon, all of them were mockingly comforting Molly. A few minutes later, mockery disappeared from their motivations and they had piled on the couch, heads on shoulders, arms around each other, legs tangled together.

‘How are you doing with the physical contact?’ Yasha asked Caleb who felt ready to drift off into sleep.

‘Surprisingly well,’ he mumbled, feeling Molly’s hand on his hip, ‘I’m tempted to say this was the best birthday I’ve ever had.’

‘Yeah but we didn’t come here to celebrate your birthday, now, did we?’ Jester yawned and smacked her lips, ‘we just had a movie night as friends.’

‘Would you like some blankets?’ Caduceus said quietly, as if to avoid stirring them, ‘Pumat and I can’t stay, I’m afraid, but you all look very comfortable there.’

He spread a few of the fluffy blankets Jester kept by the sofa over them, gave each and every one a little pat on the head and tip-toed out of the flat, Pumat in tow.

Nott was in the middle of baking Caleb’s favourite cookies when Molly came by their flat. Caleb, who had been standing in the kitchen with her, making sure nothing disastrous happened whilst she was still mixing ingredients in the biggest bowl they owned, rushed to the door when the bell rang and opened it.

‘Hi,’ Molly said around a grin that threatened to split his face, ‘I brought waffles.’

He held up a bag bearing the logo of a bakeries in the Pentamarket. Caleb could feel his mouth watering when the scent of cinnamon captured his nose and Molly walked past him. He toed off his boots in the hallway and took off his coat, carefully hanging it up on the coat rack. His outfit was, by Molly’s standards, modest. Most of his chest was covered and the trousers he wore looked comfortable, rather than tight with golden thread woven into decorative patterns.

‘It’s raining,’ he said and shook his head out, ‘I swear I saw a Halfling row down the street in an umbrella.’

‘I’m not sure what you want to say by that,’ Caleb replied and watched the way Molly’s wet curls sprung back around his horns, ‘should we get a plate for the waffles?’

‘Yes please,’ Molly stepped through into the living room, ‘also, I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea, if you’re okay with that.’

‘Of course,’ Caleb smiled, ‘I still have some of the stuff Caduceus and Pumat came up with. Did they tell you about it?’

‘Yes, they did, Yasha as well. I can’t believe no one let me have a try, yet,’ Molly threw his arms up into the air, ‘I would love to find out what I would smell in a cup of tea.’

‘You’re in luck,’ Caleb grinned and got a plate out of the cupboard, dodging Nott who still stirred the batter, ‘I always drink a lot of tea whilst recording the podcast. Makes you feel a lot more comfortable.’

He left Nott with a couple of waffles before taking the tray with their biggest teapot, cups and the waffles and making his way towards his study, motioning for Molly to follow him. His study was set up for recording already with the desk carrying his equipment, leaving enough space for snacks, his notes and the tea.

Whenever he recorded his podcast, he sat in an armchair with his feet pulled up onto the seat. He had guests on before and when he did, he pulled a second armchair into the room from the seating area in the living room, opening the space up a little. Molly followed him to the desk and sat down, immediately pulling up his feet and stretching his arms. Caleb watched and was immediately reminded of Frumpkin.

As if on cue, his cat strolled into the room, tail flicking proudly as he padded towards them. Molly only needed to click his tongue once before Frumpkin jumped up into his lap whilst Caleb poured tea for them and switched his equipment on.

‘Are you still okay to just have this chat and explain illiteracy and options how to deal with it?’ He sat down and thumbed through his note book, ‘we can just talk, basically, and completely forget about the microphone.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Molly smiled at him, ‘gosh, this is exciting! I’ve only ever listened to your podcast, and now I’m in the room! Are you going to do the introduction?’

‘That was the plan,’ Caleb replied, ‘before we start, a small reminder; no swearing if possible, I don’t like to edit stuff together, it always takes away from the content. I have no idea where this will end up going but if you’re not satisfied with what we are talking about, you can change the topic at any time.’

Molly nodded, head bowed over Frumpkin rolled up on his crossed legs as he scratched him behind his ears. He seemed slightly distracted by the cat purring into his legs and Caleb decided to kick things off.

‘This week on _The Reading Nook with Caleb Widogast_ , we are going to explore a topic not enough readers talk about. I am fairly certain that most of my listeners out there have books at home, read them and use this podcast as a background information programme of sorts. Today, however, I have a guest here who will give an insight into a problem, a challenge, most of us don’t think about in our day to day lives. Molly, do you want to say Hello?’

‘Hi,’ Molly grinned at him over Frumpkin’s head, ‘thank you for allowing me to be here.’

Caleb rolled his eyes at him, ‘Mollymauk Tealeaf is a dear friend and a supporter of the podcast since the beginning. I went back to the old episodes and found your first ever comment on the episode on _The Fall of the Frontier_.’

‘Yes, I absolutely loved that episode. I think I listened to it again and again. It was the first time Frumpkin interrupted you recording by jumping onto your lap and demanding your attention.’

‘You remember that?’

‘Of course! Also, I successfully posted a comment on that episode for the first time after getting a new phone, that was a milestone for me.’

‘Would you mind sharing why and what we are going to talk about today?’

‘Oh yeah - forgive me, I have a cat in my lap and I’m easily distracted,’ Molly watched his own fingers glide through Frumpkin’s fur, ‘posting a comment on a podcast about books and literature, for me, is major. I am illiterate, which means my options to get information on books are limited to begin with. Speech-to-text apps have helped me and listening to _The Reading Nook_ helped me get passionate about books despite being unable to read them myself. In the beginning, I just got recommendations for audio books from the podcasts I listened to, then I found yours and stayed for the discourse.’

Caleb gave him a smile over the desk, ‘How do you manage day to day life? Is it difficult, especially when so much is written out?’

‘Growing up, I didn’t even know I was supposed to know how to read. I was part of a circus, I have no idea when I joined or how I got there but I had a great time there and got trained. The ringmasters were my dads, basically, I have no memory of a life before the circus. When I was in my teens, we settled down in Trostenwald and they opened their first evening performance club. Frankly, I didn’t need to know how to read. Then, the club got burned down and whilst the insurance company investigated and the club was rebuilt, I needed some new hobbies, saw one of my co-workers read and asked her about it. It was only then that I realised I was missing a certain skill.’

‘Did you try and learn it?’

‘Yes, at first. Turns out, my brain is too slow to really understand it,’ Molly sighed and lifted Frumpkin up a little, ‘my colleagues bought me audiobooks and read me the descriptions. That way, I could do something around my flat and still listen to books. I can’t read but I can multitask.’

‘When did the podcasts start?’

‘Just a couple of years ago, it was the better alternative to blindly spend money on audiobooks I might not even have liked. I knew I had struck gold when I first found yours. It’s helped a lot.’

Caleb caught his friend’s warm smile and had to look through his notes to not get distracted by it, ‘What means of help do you have, in everyday life?’

‘Well, first off, I have good friends who don’t mind telling me. I send photos, they reply with a voice message. I have a speech-to-text app on my phone that allows me to send texts and there are programmes for audio output that help a lot. Most sites on the internet are compatible, so I get by.’

‘When we first met in person,’ Caleb ignored the little sound Molly made and continued, ‘I had no idea you had communicated with me via speech-to-text means. You told me very soon after we sat down, if I recall correctly and I tried to very quickly understand just what you had, well, confessed; it felt like a confession, didn’t it?’

‘Oh, I know, I was mortified,’ Molly laughed, velvety voice curling around the words, ‘you were talking about books and working at the library and how cool it would be to sit and read there together and all I could think about was that I didn’t want to ruin our budding friendship just because I couldn’t join in your favourite hobby.’

‘Remember what I said back then?’ Caleb felt the need to take Molly’s hand but knew he could not reach it over the table, ‘because that’s still what I think counts most when we describe our friendship today.’

‘You told me you had audiobooks as well, in the library,’ Molly nodded, his eyes shining with a hint of tears, ‘and you cannot begin to understand how much that meant for me, just hearing you, this person who loves books more than their friends - don’t disagree, we both know it’s the truth - to tell me it’s fine and I can still be your friend. Oh, and when you read the exposition to the movie we watched the other day. That’s what’s so special about you, you are considerate enough to anticipate where other people might struggle, even when it is with reading and book-matters.’

‘Oh Molly,’ Caleb knew his voice sounded husky all of a sudden but Molly smiled at him and cuddled into Frumpkin a little more who nudged his chin with his head, purring and closing his eyes when Molly began to scratch his head again, ‘to hear you this serious. It’s rather unsettling.’

‘Oh, I know,’ Molly chuckled and reached for a waffle, ‘it’s rare and far between but I can be extremely earnest when there is need for it.’

Caleb rolled his eyes at him, shook his head and reached for the teapot, instead of replying. Molly nudged his cup closer to him and he filled it as well.

‘Have you ever mentioned the amount of tea you drink whilst recording? Because that pot is huge and definitely holds more than a litre of tea. Do you always drink the whole thing?’

‘More or less,’ Caleb shrugged, ‘anyway, tea. Good topic. Well, this week, we’re drinking a very special blend of tea and enchantments, brewed up by our very good friends Caduceus Clay and Pumat Sol of _The Invulnerable Vagrant_ in Zadash. It is a blend that will smell and taste like whatever you want most. They don’t know I am singing their praises here but if you dropped by the shop or their online shop, they would probably appreciate it. It’s advertised as the _Paradise Special_ , I believe. What does it taste like for you, Molly?’

Molly took the cup and raised it to his nose, ‘Uhm, first off, it smells amazing, absolutely mouth-watering. A little smoky, rich and quite heavy but absolutely amazing. I think it’s cookies, caramel and - wait, that’s not so much food, it’s something different. I think this smells like books? I have no idea, to be honest, haven’t smelled too many books but it reminds me of my father’s study where he kept his old books. It smells amazing.’

Caleb watched him take a sip, keep it on his tongue for a moment and swallow it, accompanied with a deliciously deep moan that had goose-bumps break out on his skin. He could feel them against the cloth of his shirt and shuddered for a moment.

‘I am not sure I can keep that on the record,’ he laughed breathily to avoid lingering on it for another moment, ‘I take it, it’s good?’

‘Absolutely delicious,’ Molly grinned, ‘I cannot believe no one let me have it before. What does it taste like for you?’

‘Oh, it’s a rather weird mix for me, apparently,’ Caleb blushed a little, recalling Yasha’s reaction to the first time he told his friends, ‘cinnamon and jasmine. I absolutely love it and was going to ask Caduceus for a tea made of those two, specifically, if my tastes ever changed because I can’t think of another blend being just as delicious.’

‘It’s a very special combination,’ Molly agreed, seeming pensive for a moment, ‘jasmine and cinnamon, I think I have a perfume with those ingredients.’

Caleb started them on the topic of _Gamble of War_ and the differences between book and film, how it affected the plot and ending, and what it meant to people who did not have the chance to read the book themselves to only get to know the movie. They had recorded more than enough material for the podcast, discussed audiobooks, audio output on the internet and book adaptations. At some point, Frumpkin had curled up in Caleb’s lap and fallen asleep, they had finished the tea and eaten the waffles. Molly had curled up in the armchair, not unlike Frumpkin, legs tucked in and head resting against the armrest.

Caleb had switched off the equipment, gotten up and fetched one of the books he had recently bought, _Court of the Rogue_. He had waited to start reading it so far and reading it to himself and Molly at the same time made it more exciting, he found.

The story of a renegade prince who decided to leave the safety of his parents’ court behind to become a gentleman thief only to discover a political conspiracy led them into a fantastical story that neither wanted to end. By the time the main character had assembled his group of ragtag mercenaries and set off to fight the dangers brewing, Caleb had been forced to switch on the lights in order to keep reading.

A knock on the door had him set down the book eventually as Nott slipped into the room, wearing pyjamas and a robe that was long enough to slide over the ground behind her, and with a towel wrapped around her head, ‘I’m going to retire now. There are cookies in the kitchen, if you want one before bed, they should still be warm. Also,’ she yawned, showing the points of her teeth, ‘don’t drink too much milk with it.’

‘Of course, Liebling,’ Caleb nodded, ‘you’re going to sleep? What time is it?’

‘Late enough that Yasha already called to say that she has someone over tonight, didn’t specify.’

‘Beau,’ Molly nodded with a wide grin, ‘I bet it’s Beau.’

‘Well, she said you can’t come back to her place tonight,’ Nott shrugged nonchalantly, ‘I took the liberty of preparing the sofa, if you want to stay over.’

‘Thank you, Nott, that’s really considerate of you.’

‘Yeah, I know, I’m a nice person,’ Nott turned around, her robe, that Caleb did recognise as one of Jester’s, the longer he looked at her, dragging behind her as she crossed the room, ‘if I see or hear you slipping into my Caleb’s room, I will castrate you with a butter knife.’

‘Wow,’ Molly watched her leave the room, ‘that was both caring and intense.’

Caleb hid in the cushion of his armchair, feeling the blood rush into his cheeks, ‘She can be a bit much, sometimes. I’m sure she meant well.’

‘Certainly scared me off trying anything unsavoury,’ Molly’s voice dripped with sarcasm but he unrolled himself from the armchair and stretched his arms out, ‘bed, anyway?’

‘We should go to sleep, probably,’ Caleb agreed, ‘would you like some cookies though?’

‘Cookies before bed? You are a man after my fancy,’ they went into the kitchen, Frumpkin on their heels.

Caleb used the two plates they had eaten the waffles from to distribute cookies on them and pour some milk into two glasses, ‘She knows I love these and every so often, she decides to just bake them for me.’

‘That’s very kind of her,’ Molly said through a mouthful of cookie, ‘do you have a toothbrush I could use after this?’

‘There should be a spare one on the shelf. I’ll get you some things together, okay?’ Caleb went into the bathroom to collect the toothbrush, a towel and took one of his t-shirts off the drying rack beneath the window, ‘Here, if you want to change for the night. It’s comfortable, I use it to sleep in sometimes.’

Molly took the small stack of things and disappeared into the bathroom whilst Caleb took care of the dishes. When he left the bathroom again, Caleb was very rudely reminded of why he usually only wore these t-shirts to sleep and hid them away in the back of his wardrobe at all other times. It was a shirt Jester had given him after seeing it in a shop and thinking of him. It read _Book Lovers Never Go To Bed Alone_ in glittering letters above an opened book that had only faded a little through the washes it had endured. On Caleb, the shirt was slightly too big, hanging off his shoulders; Molly, however, filled it out entirely and stretched the cloth slightly over his shoulders and chest.

Caleb felt his throat dry up when Molly crawled under the blanket Nott had left him on the sofa. He had stripped to his underwear and it left a lot of lavender skin on display.

‘Now, this shirt is clearly lying,’ Molly grinned as he slid onto the pillow, horns and hair a stark contrast against the white linen, ‘I love books, too, of sorts, and I seem to be all by myself.’

‘Hush now,’ Caleb shook his head, unsure what else to say, ‘you’ll be fine.’

He went into the bathroom as well and got changed himself, making sure to pick an innocent sleep shirt, brushed his teeth and washed his face. The living room was dark, safe for the pale light of the street lamp casting a little light onto the wall when he left the bathroom.

Molly seemed to be asleep already, still under the blanket, curled in on himself with a few strands of hair across his face. Carefully, Caleb stepped closer, half out of curiosity, half because he found it too tempting to catch a glimpse of his friend asleep.

He did not expect Molly’s hand to shoot out from underneath the blanket, close around his wrist and pull him in. A moment later, he felt hot lips press a kiss on the back of his hand.

‘Good night, book lover,’ he heard Molly whisper, ‘don’t get sucked into any of your stories.’

Caleb found it very hard to go to bed in his own room all of a sudden.

**Author's Note:**

> Say Hello on [Tumblr](https://calebs-coat-collar.tumblr.com/)!


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